The Navigator Who Received an Invitation

As the massive wave slowly receded, everyone aboard the National suddenly relaxed. One after another, they collapsed to the deck, with no desire to get back up.

Even the navigator at the bow felt as though he had lost half his life.

However, the soldiers who had followed them over had stars practically shining in their eyes after witnessing Nova's devastating slash.

This was also Nova's first time using a move from the Flying Dragon Sword Style. Even he had not expected it to unleash such tremendous power.

The instant the blade's radiance sliced through the waves, even he had been startled.

"Your Majesty, you were incredible! I was scared to death just now!"

Gogoya had been so frightened that he dropped to his knees, the fear in his eyes plainly visible.

"Alright, it's over now. But after today, hurry up and find me a navigator. It'd be best not to let a third-rate one like this go to sea again. Who knows what kind of disaster he'll cause someday?"

Nova was speechless. The navigator on his ship was simply too pathetic.

"Your Majesty, you're really amazing..."

"Exactly, His Majesty truly is extraordinary..."

Listening to the soldiers praising him behind his back, Nova helplessly shouted, "Hurry up and check whether anyone else was hurt! Take a head count and make sure everyone on the ship is here!"

"Yes..."

The voices of dozens of people rang out in unison, instantly resounding across this stretch of sea.

"Gogoya, roughly where are we now?" Nova asked.

"Your Majesty, the compass broke in the collision just now. I don't know our exact location either," Gogoya said softly, somewhat embarrassed.

Nova was even more speechless. He truly had nothing left to say to these people. They were simply beyond words.

"Don't tell me this ship only had one compass?" Nova asked again in disbelief.

Hearing that, Gogoya cautiously looked at Nova and nodded fearfully.

Nova smacked his forehead. On his first voyage ever, he had run into something like this. Without a compass, in such a vast sea, finding somewhere to dock would be nothing but a fool's dream.

But their luck had not run out so quickly. It was like being handed a pillow just as they were getting sleepy.

Just as the two of them were worrying over this, a pirate ship appeared on the distant sea.

It was rapidly heading in their direction. They would not even need to go looking for it themselves!

"Cheer up. Looks like the compass delivery has arrived!" Nova said with a sinister grin.

Gogoya hurriedly got up, leaned over the railing, and looked in the direction Nova had indicated.

At this point, the pirate ship in the distance still looked tiny. If one did not look carefully, it was almost obscured by the horizon.

"Your Majesty, they're pirates!"

Gogoya said worriedly.

"If they weren't pirates, that would be troublesome. We've finally run into a group of them. I'm actually looking forward to this!" Nova said eagerly.

He became exceptionally excited, and even the soldiers behind him began rubbing their hands together in anticipation. Why would they fear pirates now? They could hardly wait to run into them.

As the distance between the two ships grew shorter, they could clearly see the pirate flag. A huge skull was painted on the sail, and before they had even drawn close, the pirates were already preparing to fire their cannons.

But how could Nova let them have their way? Once they were close enough, he vanished in an instant. When he reappeared, he was already aboard the pirate ship.

There were around forty or fifty pirates aboard. The pirate captain at the front of the deck was still shouting orders to his men. "Boys, looks like we've got a big score today. Hurry up and fire the cannons—"

"C-Captain..."

The underlings called out with trembling voices. They had only just approached the other ship when an unknown figure appeared aboard theirs, sitting in their captain's original seat.

The foolish-looking pirate captain had been wearing an impatient expression when he turned around, ready to curse at his men. But when he saw someone sitting in his spot, he froze on the spot.

"Who are you??"

The pirate captain looked at Nova curiously.

"I'm the captain of the ship opposite yours. You were just about to fire your cannons and attack us, so shouldn't we settle that score now?"

Nova sat there with a smile.

"How did he get here?"

The pirate captain pulled one of his underlings aside and asked in a low, curious voice.

"Captain, he suddenly appeared here. We didn't see how he came over at all. He might be a Devil Fruit user?"

The crewman said to the pirate captain.

Many of the other pirates also drew their swords and rushed onto the deck, surrounding Nova tightly.

Seeing this, the pirate captain seemed to gain a little confidence. He puffed out his chest and shouted at Nova, "You're alone, while I've got so many men. You think I'd be afraid of you?"

"Then take another look behind you."

Nova continued smiling.

When the pirate captain turned around and looked toward the National, he saw more than a dozen people running through the air toward them.

The sight nearly scared them senseless. Their previously arrogant expressions vanished, and their eyes bulged wide.

"Captain, I don't think we can beat these people!"

"You think I don't know that? I can see it too!"

The pirate captain immediately roared at his crewman. Then he looked at Nova, who was sitting in his seat, with a fawning smile. "Are you a pirate too?"

"What are you talking about?"

Nova's expression was calm. The dozen or so guards from the National had now landed on the deck as well.

Everyone aboard the pirate ship immediately gave up resisting. Their swords clattered onto the deck.

"What pirate crew are you from?"

"Ah, our crew is called the Barlow Pirates. I'm Barlow, from the West Blue. We were planning to head to the New World and take a look. There are fifty-one people aboard, along with around thirty million Beli in gold, silver, and jewels. If you like, you can take it all, but please leave us some food."

Nova had only asked what pirate crew they belonged to, but Captain Barlow immediately spilled every detail about the entire ship without leaving out a thing, as if terrified that Nova would be dissatisfied.

Nova stood up and smiled. He was quite satisfied with the man's attitude, and he did not hold an especially bad opinion of pirates.

Since the other party had already said so much, it made Nova's group seem more like pirates instead. Even so, Nova smiled and said to his guards, "Captain Barlow has explained everything so clearly. What are you standing around for? Go bring back the thirty million Beli first."

"Yes..."

The guards were delighted. Several of them eagerly began searching the entire ship. They probably would not leave behind even a pair of underwear if it was worth anything.

Nova remained standing there. It was only after quite a while that the guards who had gone to search returned, carrying a large chest filled to the brim with jewels.

"Your Majesty, it really is thirty million Beli. This is all the valuable stuff on the ship," a guard said.

"Not bad. At least this trip wasn't a waste of time. This way of making money really is quite fast!" Nova said as he began calculating in his head.

Captain Barlow watched the others carry away his treasure, and he felt as though his lifeblood had been taken from him. Though his facial features were twisted together in pain, he did not dare say another word.

"Where is the navigator on your ship?"

Nova looked at Captain Barlow and asked.

"The navigator???"

Barlow froze again. At barely five feet three inches tall, he looked rather comical.

Before Nova could ask again, Barlow blankly said, "I'm the navigator..."

"You??"

Now it was Nova's turn to be surprised, but he still asked, "How did you avoid that huge wave earlier?"

For a small ship barely over ten meters long, that wave of more than thirty meters would have needed only the slightest lingering force to smash it straight to the bottom of the sea.

Yet judging by their appearance, not a single person had been injured, and the ship itself showed no signs of damage.

"You mean that wave earlier? It really gave me a fright. I never expected the Four Blues to have waves that big. It seems the closer we get to Reverse Mountain, the more drastic the climate changes become," Barlow said with a laugh.

"Is that what I asked you?"

Nova was speechless.

"The wave just passed over us. Nothing much happened. We simply rode the current up along the wave. We were dozens of kilometers away before, and we only got here by following that wave," Barlow said.

"Looks like your Barlow Pirates don't have much of a future. How about becoming my navigator from now on?" Nova said, his eyes shining.

The man's navigational skills were clearly far superior to those of Nova's current navigator. More importantly, Nova truly did not trust his current navigator's ability to handle the places they would be traveling to next.

"Haha, you must be joking. I'm a pirate..." Barlow said with a laugh.

"This is the king of the Tru Kingdom, and His Majesty is incredibly powerful. If you follow His Majesty, you'll at least be able to go anywhere in the world. It's better than living with your lives on the line every day."

One of the guards beside Nova spoke up.

"Your Majesty??"

Barlow looked at Nova in disbelief. In his impression, nearly every king he had ever seen was fat and big-eared. Setting aside how young Nova was, his strength alone was difficult to believe.

Barlow turned to look at Nova's National. His face was full of reluctance, but was it still his turn to choose?

"What is your dream?"

Nova suddenly remembered that everyone in the Pirate World loved pursuing their dreams, so he subconsciously asked.

The question clearly caught Barlow off guard. A dream? He really did not seem to have one.

"If I had to call it a dream, it would probably just be finding my older brother, who has already become a pirate!"

After thinking for a while, Barlow finally answered.

"Sure enough, that's a pretty good dream. But with the strength of you people, forget the Grand Line. You'd probably be killed before you even made it halfway there," Nova said with a smile.

"Hm? You have a point, but I still want to stick to my own decision!"

Barlow continued.

"What's so good about this broken little ship of yours? Isn't it all just to find your brother? Become my navigator. At the very least, there isn't any place in the entire Pirate World that this ship can't reach."

As Nova spoke, he noticed that Barlow's gaze had clearly shifted toward his crew.

Nova continued smiling. "As for them, if you're worried, they can work aboard my ship too."

The main issue was that almost no one in the Tru Kingdom had any sailing experience. They knew nothing about many of the ship's operations.

Even when they had first tried to lower two sails, they had no idea how much effort it took. Everyone had been flustered and scrambling around.

So Nova had already gained a preliminary understanding of the sailing skills of the people aboard his ship. They truly did not seem capable of handling major responsibilities.

Not to mention that more ships would appear in the future. The Tru Kingdom certainly would not remain in its current state. As far as sailing skills were concerned, they needed to improve by several levels at the very least to meet the nation's future needs.

It was rare to encounter someone like this today. As long as Barlow did not cause any major trouble, bringing him aboard would be fine.

Pirates were not entirely useless. At times, their survival and emergency skills were far superior to those of Nova's people.

"Captain, since His Majesty the King has put it like that, shouldn't we really think about it?"

"Exactly, Captain..."

The crew below also began persuading Barlow. At the very least, if they stayed aboard the National, they would no longer be pirates and would not need to worry about survival every day.

In truth, Barlow had already begun to waver. Nova merely wanted a better navigator. After all, he had no idea how far they still needed to travel, and relying on his current navigator made him feel extremely unsafe.

After experiencing that earlier storm, the fact that such a small ship had survived was enough to prove the overall skill of Barlow, this rather short man.

In this vast sea, without a qualified navigator, even a hundred-meter ship like the National could very well capsize in a storm.